• Project Title: Breathing: A Way to Unlock Better Performance

  • BASIS Advisor: Ms. Bocchino

  • Internship Location: Digital (New York, NY)

  • Onsite Mentor: Pilar Tumolo

The anxiety of a graded assessment is something that creeps up on all of us, and there is usually little we can do about it besides bite our lips and be hopeful until time expires. This was my attitude until I discovered the power of breathing, something that we do 20,000 times a day and think little about. We know so little about this necessary process that the answer to our anxiety troubles has been sitting under our nose this whole time. It was because of my fondness for gaining the upper hand that I decided to pursue a project in this area and conduct an experiment to see the efficacy of breathing in test taking situations. The experiment includes a 3rd grade class of students on two separate test taking occasions: the first involves kids taking an assessment as they would regularly do, while the second involves the students engaging in short breathing exercises before the exam. By performing a simple box breathing technique for 3 minutes before the assessment, this study examines the potential of an increase in score performance. The results here may lead to the conclusion that three minutes of breathing exercises can increase test scores. What should now be done to put these practices in play? Should BASIS Independent recommend these practices for students to do on their own or should they be commonplace in each classroom?